JOHN Innes Centre

"Agriculture depends on soil nutrients (primarily nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) to optimise plant development and ultimately yield. Soils contain such nutrients naturally, but growing and harvesting crops results in nutrients becoming depleted, leading to plants suffering from nutrient deficiency and decreasing yields. It is therefore crucial for ...

Confirmation of scaleability of new tools for accessing novel natural products with use in human and animal health and as agrochemicals.

Saponins are soap-like substances or surfactants produced by certain plants. They have huge potential as a natural, biobased alternative to petrochemical surfactants for use in detergent products. However, extraction from plants is not economically feasible for use in detergents or sustainable on the basis of land use. This project sets out to establish a...

Generation and analysis of a library of novel Natural Products using a new recombineering technology, with potential for use in pharmaceutical development, as treatments in indications such as infectious diseases, oncology and inflammation, as agrochemicals and fine chemicals.

The overall aim of this industry led project is to increase the intake of soluble dietary fibre by the general population, providing Nutrition for Life to consumers of white bread, many of which are children. Today, almost 55% of all bread consumed in the UK is white bread with low fibre content, and partly responsible for the low fibre intake by the majo...

Saponins have already found industrial application as foaming agents in the beverage, food and cosmetics industries. However, the breadth of triterpene saponin structures has not been fully explored or exploited, and their application limited by accessibility and availability from plant extracts, depite broad-ranging physical and bioactive properties docu...

Demuris has a pipeline of novel antibiotics produced by a variety of different actinobacteria. The leading molecule is presently made by an organism that is not ideal for large scale fermentation, and the compound structure may not yet be optimal in terms of pharmacological properties. We wish to identify the antibiotic producer gene cluster and re-engine...

PROJECT TITLE: Protein content vs yield in legumes:releasing the constraint Summary: The demand for vegetable protein in the UK feed industry, coupled to supply constraints, creates a market opportunity for sustainable farming in the UK. To take advantage of this opportunity farmers need a high yielding, protein rich product. Legume seeds (pulses) have hi...

The project aims to develop a methodology to identify sequence-based markers that are predictive of crop performance and that can be used to make crop breeding faster and more efficient. To underpin marker-assisted breeding and realize this potential in hybrid rape, molecular markers predictive of hybrid performance are required. High throughput sequencin...

Project partners Barrier Biotech Ltd (BB), Syngenta Ltd (SYN) and the John Innes Centre (JIC) applied for funding to develop novel nematocide products based on plant oil formulations. These formulations will target nematodes affecting arable root crops and substitute existing commercial nematicides coming off the market due to changes in the Plant Protect...